This team has mettle! The NY Giants were dealt a body blow, down 10-0, then down 20-7. 3 turnovers early. Special teams gives up a 93 yard punt return for a TD. They could have folded. But they didn’t.The Giants kept their composure and outplayed the Cowboys, knocking out their 5th QB of the season. Giants 272 yards offense to Dallas’ 75 yards offense in H1. They kept it up in the second half, pouring it on to 38-20, delivering with 31 unanswered points. The final score was closer than it had to be but make no mistake- the NY Giants kicked a** last night and are a very real team.

There was a moment in the game that I loved. The Giants were driving in the middle of the second quarter, down 20-14, but they were gashing the Boys. After collecting another first down, they go to a timeout at the 2:00 minute warning with the ball near the opponent’s 20 yard line. Mike Tirico of ESPN matter of factly remarks before going off for break that when we come back to the game the Giants are on their way to going ahead 21-20. The score was not telling ANY of the story. The Giants were killing the Cowboys and Tirico knew it. Sure enough, a few plays later the score would be 21-20 and the march was on.

At halftime, “all the Giants have to do is not turn over the ball in H2 and we will win this game.” That we turned over the ball two more times and still won was yet more testimony to how well the Giants played everywhere else.

Excuse me for saying it again.. THE GIANTS KICKED A** LAST NIGHT!

This team has won 4 straight. Bradshaw, when he is not busy turning over the ball, is leading the NFL in rushing. The Giants defense has been punishing opposing QBs and keeping the game in front of them. Don’t look at the final stats, they are irrelevant. It’ll say the Giants gave up a bunch of yards, but most of it was in garbage time in Q4. Yah, I’d like to bitch about the cruise control the Giants offense went into once it was up 38-20 (Manning said the offense “relaxed”), but I am too impressed with how Gilbride and Manning dissected the Dallas defense. That was a clinic out there.

Jon Gruden is calling Nicks, Smith and Manningham “Jet Blue.” Amen. Sky Blue. In the Dallas preview, I alerted the Dallas blogger that our corps of WRs were as good as theirs, a hefty compliment. I’ll take ours.

Eli the enigma started off this game in a trance. 4 bad balls in a row, 2 INTs (the 2nd was more Nicks’ fault), 10 points gift-wrapped for Dallas. That the Giants could climb out of this hole speaks volumes for the character we are witnessing that is coming together for this team. We don’t like that Manning isn’t emotional. But the aw-shucks kid also does not get too low. And that paid huge dividends for the Gmen. If he plays 4 quarters without turning over the ball, the Giants will be extremely tough. Everything is on the table now. How far do you want to take this team, Eli?

We had a Clint Sintim sighting where he fell on the last onside kick. We had a Ramses Barden sighting where he got wide open for a nice reception to move the chains. We had Lawrence Tynes boom the ball into the back of the end zone for 3 touchbacks. We had Tynes make a 48 yarder, only to have a penalty called, and then make a 53 yarder right after!

The Giants OL and DL were dominating throughout.

Michael Boley played with hyperbole.

Okay, one quick rant, I promise to make it extremely short: Reynaud is setting back football 40 years. He seems to run in reverse. To quote my dad on email: “If I see that piece of cr*p return one more Kickoff I will puke on my carpet.” And can we get a new special teams coach already? They could bring in Mr. McGoo and he could see better than Quinn. Okay, rant over.

Bear Pascoe is a gem. His only bad play of the game came when Bradshaw had the nerve to run into him. It was the first time I have ever seen a man’s butt cause a fumble!

Dallas could not run the ball on the Giants to save their lives.

The exclamation point of the game was a pretty WR screen where Boss plus Snee delivered great blocks (Snee pancaked LBer Bradie James) and spring Super Mario free for a nifty sideline ballet into the end zone. Nutcracker. I’ll be replaying this one numerous times today.

I still want to see Goff keep improving. He played well, made a few mistakes but is going to be the glue to put this team over the top. I want to see Eli play 4 quarters. I want to see Ahmad hold onto the ball. These are not issues that are unmanageable. If these milestones are reached, this team can be Super. Yes, Super.